Prophecy (2015)

The film begins with an intimidating and mysterious message broadcast from an internet cafe. The unknown man, whose face is obscured by a makeshift newspaper mask, reveals a “prophecy” that ill fortune is about to befall the boss of a company who were responsible for producing poisoned food, but who escaped justice by the police. In subsequent videos he threatens revenge on a company employee who humiliated a man in a job interview, and others. His brand of vigilantism soon gains a following and he becomes an online celebrity. Meanwhile the detectives assigned to the case race to follow the clues to uncover the identity of the figure, or figures, known as the “Paperboy”. The film begins with an intriguing and simple set-up, but the audience is soon introduced to the character of Gates (Tomo Ikuta) and his friends, the young men responsible for the “Paperboy” incidents, and given a details examination of their circumstances.

Director Yoshihiro Nakamura does a great job with the film. In particular keeping the narrative fresh throughout. Not only with the twists and turns of the central police investigation, but by turning the genre on its head and showing us events from the perspective of the perpetrators. Far from undermining the mystery, it instead turns the film into a battle of ideals. On the one hand Gates and his companions are justified, popular among a downtrodden citizenry, champions of justice, respect, and many noble ideals. However, Erika Toda’s detective is also a sympathetic character, fighting sexism, and clinging to her own idea of what constitutes right and just actions. In fact it becomes clear that the central villain of the film is perhaps society itself. The way that humans cluster together for both positive and negative reasons. We see staff at a company bullying a temporary worker, and how the same instinct causes people to rally to the “Paperboy” cause. The script sets up a number of fantastic scenes that demonstrate these concepts and build on them, while never losing sight of the main plot. The acting is superb, especially Erika Toda as the detective, and Toma Ikuta as “Gates”. The supporting cast of Gate’s friends, Kohei Fukuyama, Ryohei Suzuki, Yoshiyoshi Arakawa and Gaku Hamada, are also fantastic and help to create a believable sense of cameraderie and emotion during their scenes together.

A fantastic film that is packed with ideas about justice, memetic culture, the power of internet movements, vigilantism, the structure of Japanese society, and in particular how this relates to the treatment of immigrants or outsiders. A far more thought-provoking film than the plot might at first suggest. The film-makers have used a common crime drama to explore many different themes and issues in society.